3-point perspective isn’t used as frequently as the others-but can add a lot of drama and emphasis when drawing a huge building or tree stretching off into the sky. It is similar to 2-point perspective, but the third vanishing point shows where the object dissappears into the distance above.

Step one: As always, put down your horizon line and vanishing points. Two will be on the horizon line somewhere, but the third should be above or below it.

Leave yourself lots of space between the third VP and the horizon line to make it easier.

Next, draw one line from your top vanishing point down. This will be the closest edge of your building.

Then, you can add two dots to mark the top and bottom of the building. Connect each dot to each of the vanishing points on the side.

After that, mark where you want the bottom corners of the building to be. I added little arrows. Draw a line from each spot up to the top vanishing point.

That’s basically it. Details on the side with slope upwards towards the top VP, and along each side with angle towards the VP on their respective side.

I’ve added a sketch of what it can look like with you add more surrounding buildings. And here’s a more subtle example with all three vanishing points off the page.

Drawing with 1-point perspective is an important skill to understand in order to make 3D objects look realistic. So what are we waiting for?
Step 1: Horizon line and Vanishing Point
A line and a dot. You can do it.

The horizon is obviously where the sky and land appear to meet.

A specific spot on it is the vanishing point. As objects you are looking at get further and further away from you, and closer to the horizon, they seem to bend towards this point and once they reach it they vanish. That’s why it is called the “vanishing point”, or vp.

You can hopefully guess why this method is called 1-point perspective.

There are more complicated ways to do this where you add more vps, I’ll add tutorials on them soon…

First, you start with one dot, or point, because it’s “1-point perspective “.
You should already know that though, since you have totally all ready done the first tutorial on perspective, right?

If not, go ahead and check it out here: http://inquisitiveart.com/2017/04/07/draw-1-point-perspective-anyone-can/

No worries, I’ll wait.

Great! Now that you’re back make one dot for your vanishing point and then draw the flat tops of your objects. I did a few varied shapes for rooftops in a city (one has a pool).

No horizon line this time because you are looking straight down.

Second, connect your shape to the vanishing line and cut it off.
This should feel familiar. Just like before, make sure that the lines of the “top” edges are parallel to the “bottom” edges. Third, add details (like windows!).

The sides of the windows will angle to the vanishing point. The tops and bottoms will be parallel to each other and the top edge of the building. They will also get closer together as they get closer to the vanishing point.

Fourth, repeat those steps to add more buildings…or furniture, or whatever you’re drawing.
Fifth, erase the extra lines, and add detail to the bottom.

Any details on the bottom or rooftop size will appear flat and can be drawn normally. Like the roads and cars I added. The circular rooftop pool is another example of this.

I also added another building to demonstrate how making a building look taller is as easy as increasing the space between the top and bottom.